The conclusion for our industry? Within five years, approximately 67 percent of printers will either be consolidated or out of business.

This is not to suggest that two-thirds of the printing industry will soon disappear. Printers will change. They won’t be gone completely.

Scharfstein points out that mid-size printers will experience the greatest consolidation. Some will become part of larger entities; others will grow through acquisitions.

“Most printers that we talked to expected to either acquire or be acquired,” Scharfstein says. “Very few expected to be the same.”

DAK didn’t just talk to printers. The firm surveyed 780 companies—each with sales between $5 million and $50 million—from a variety of industries.

DAK is used to dealing with companies in this sales range. “We’ve been around for 13 years doing merger and acquisition work for mid-market businesses,” Scharfstein says.

DAK focuses on the transactions that fall below Wall Street’s radar. The firm regularly asks owners of privately held businesses about their M&A intentions. It found that these owners now sell their companies at younger ages.

In a study conducted a decade ago, DAK found that two out of three business sellers were 65 or older. That is no longer the case. According to the new study, 66 percent of sellers are between the ages of 30 and 65.